Read If These Walls Could Talk Online
Authors: Bettye Griffin
If These Walls Could Talk (15 page)
Chapter 23
The Youngs
May 2003
May 2003
“D
awn, we've got a problem.”
awn, we've got a problem.”
She looked up from the inside of the refrigerator door, which she was cleaning with diluted all-purpose cleaner in a spray bottle. Milo looked so serious. “What?”
“C'mere, and I'll show you.”
She put the sponge and spray bottle on the counter and followed him outside to the back of the house. A definite fault line had appeared at the rear, extending from the lake and headed straight for the house. “Ugh. This looks like it could cause a problem.”
“Damn straight it can. A break in the soil underneath the house can probably cause our foundation to crack, and the deck wouldn't be all that stable, either. And then we're up a creek.”
“What do you want to do, notify the home owners association?”
“Not the association. The builder.” He held out his arms on either side of him, index fingers pointing. “You see how our neighbors' lots are higher than ours in the back? That's what's causing this to happen. Every time it rains or snows their water runs into our yard to drain because it's lower. We might have to put up a wooden fence to keep it from happening.”
“I think a fence would be a good idea anyway, for privacy. It'll be good for Stormy, too.” Dawn had hoped the Willises and their neighbors on the other side would put up fences, which would automatically give them privacy in their backyard without having to pay for it. She suspected they, in turn, hoped she and Milo would do it first.
“We'll see what you say when we find out how much it'll cost. Would you rather go down to Virginia this summer or put up a fence?”
She quickly reconsidered, not wanting to raid her thriving vacation club account to pay for home repairs. Virginia wasn't exactly her dream vacation spot, but it beat staying home. “I guess it would be all right if we got the association to give us some dirt so that our property is at least as high as the neighbors.”
“Screw that. I want us to be higher. Let water from our yard drain on
their
property.”
their
property.”
To their great dismay, the builder refused to repair the problem when Milo called them. “But my house is warranted,” Dawn heard him say. Then, there was a pause, followed by, “It did? You don't? But that doesn't seem fair. Our house was built on a lower lot than the ones on either side. That means y'all knew this would happen after a year or so.”
Dawn braced her shoulders through the next long pause as the builder spoke.
“What do I know?” Milo said. “I'm a first-time home buyer from Brooklyn. You guys are the experts. It's not fair to palm this off on me, to say I should have said something before. I didn't notice it until now. But I'm sure your construction crew saw it.
They
knew what would happen down the road.”
They
knew what would happen down the road.”
He made a few more grunting sounds, then closed with, “Well, we'll see about that.”
That last remark didn't sound very promising, but when he hung up Dawn nevertheless asked him, “What did they say?”
“They essentially said âtough tit.' They said if we had noticed that the ground was low while the house was being built they probably could have done something, but that the warranty, which expired after one year anyway, only covered the house and the deck, not the lot.”
“Well, that really sucks. Milo, we can't afford to have that fixed.”
“We can't afford
not
to fix it. It's headed toward our foundation, remember?” He muttered under his breath.
not
to fix it. It's headed toward our foundation, remember?” He muttered under his breath.
“Why don't you call the association next week? Maybe they can do something to help us.”
“I doubt it, but I'll call them, just to let them know I'm not happy.” He walked to the window and looked out at the backyard. “Shit. This is how sinkholes start. We'll have to pay somebody to drop a load of dirt out front, and then we'll have to spread it over the yard ourselves. We can't afford to pay someone to do that, too.”
“What about the grass?”
“We'll have to put down new grass. I doubt the old stuff will grow through the dirt. It might happen eventually, but in the meantime every time it rains we'll have a muddy mess in the yard.”
“Damn. This is starting to sound more and more expensive.” Dawn hoped they would eventually be able to invest in home improvements, like one of those new retractable awnings for the deck. She hadn't planned on spending good money to correct something that should have been done properly in the first place. It wasn't fair.
Who was she kidding? No way could she and Milo afford any home-improvement projects, not with all the money they had to shell out every month for basic expenses. She estimated that the mortgage, their utilities, parking at the bus station, and those damn bus passes ate up more than half their net income. Dawn never claimed to be a financial expert, but she did know home ownership wasn't supposed to work like that.
She sighed. She also knew that home ownership couldn't be all goodness and watching sunrises over the lake. Now she knew how the owners of their old apartment house must have felt whenever she called and said the bathtub had a clogged drain or the front of the kitchen drawer had broken off from the sides. Repairs cost money and cut into their profits.
But they'd deal with it. They had no other option.
In the end they spent $175 to get a dump truck full of dirt placed on their front lawn so they could raise the height of their lot. They drove over to the Home Depot in Stroudsburg, bought a wheelbarrow, and learned it would cost about two hundred dollars for enough square feet of sod to cover their entire backyard. “Forget it,” Milo said. Instead he bought two bags of grass seed, paying for that and the wheelbarrow with a credit card.
“Uh . . . Are you sure you want to do that?” Dawn asked in a low tone at the checkout counter.
Milo swiped the plastic card. “Do you have any other ideas?”
All she could do was shake her head. They'd just paid another high electric bill and, as had been the case all winter, there hadn't been a whole lot left over. She looked forward to the coming warm weather. How did other people manage to pay all these utilities? Out here they even had to pay for the water they used. Dawn quickly became aware of her wasteful water habits, like washing dishes under a constantly running stream of hot water. She learned to turn off the tap while she brushed her teeth, and she instructed Zach to do the same.
Dawn and Milo began working with the dirt right away and worked all weekend, but they only had one wheelbarrow, and even with Zach helping, a ton of dirt would take some time for two adults and a preadolescent boy to move.
Monday evening they came home from work to find a note from the home owners association reprimanding them for the unattractive mountain of dirt on their front lawn. Milo went into a rage, cursing the builder and association alike. Dawn felt like she'd been slapped in the face. After Milo's angry phone call last week they knew the situation. They could have at least given them another week to move the dirt.
“We won't be able to do anything with it during the week,” she pointed out. How could they? They left the house before light, and by the time they got home it was dark again.
“I'll call and leave them a message that this dirt will sit right here at least through this weekend, and probably next weekend, too,” Milo said, shouting in agitation.
Dawn wanted to give him something pleasant to think about, but she wasn't sure if this was the right time. Her usually even-tempered husband had become a miserable sourpuss. “Milo, when we're done moving the dirt we really should think about inviting the Currys and the Lees over,” she said. “We can have some fun, and we still haven't been able to return the hospitality they showed us.”
“That's not our fault. We've invited them.”
“I know.” She and Milo had been secretly pleased when Veronica declined their invitation rather than bring along their houseguests, one of Norman's brothers and his wife. “It's hard for them to be social because their families come to see them a lot, especially Veronica and Norman. Between you and me, Veronica's not too happy about it.” She giggled. “Maybe there are advantages to having your family feel you live too far to go and see.”
“That's what they get for having their extra bedrooms set up as bedrooms. If we didn't have exercise equipment in ours, we might be overrun with weekend guests ourselves.”
Dawn didn't reply. She didn't believe that was it at all. She believed that not visiting was their families' way of punishing them for getting ahead.
But if given a choice, she supposed she'd rather be banished than be inundated every weekend with visitors.
Chapter 24
The Lees
May 2003
May 2003
“V
eronica, my sister wants to have a fortieth birthday party.”
eronica, my sister wants to have a fortieth birthday party.”
She'd been scrubbing a stubborn stain on the kitchen floor with a brush and some cleanser, but at hearing this she immediately perked up. Her posture relaxed a little, a dreamy smile on her face. “That sounds nice. I guess we'll plan on spending the night at a hotel in the city, huh? I know hotels in midtown are expensive, but I'm sure if we use the Internet we can find something affordable. Maybe we can get Camille Curry to keep the girls overnight. They enjoy playing with her Shayla.”
The idea of a weekend in the city excited her. They hadn't been to New York since Christmas Day, and then they only stayed for the day and drove back that night. It seemed that everyone wanted to come and see them, and unfortunately for longer than an afternoon. She remembered joking to Norman about it when they first started looking at houses eighteen months ago, but the situation had become very unfunny. Veronica was tired of Norman's brothers and her own sister acting like they were running a bed-and-breakfast.
She found her sister's behavior particularly disturbing. Valerie had made it her life's mission to find a husband, and in Veronica's opinion she'd gone way overboard, exposing her daughter to a parade of short-term lovers and often wanting to bring them out here for a weekend.
Just last weekend there'd been an ugly scene. Valerie and her new companion, Michaelâit seemed like every three or four weeks she had a new oneârode out last Saturday, Essence in tow. They intended just to spend the day, but they had a few drinks too many and Norman suggested they sleep over rather than try to drive home impaired. Valerie stated that she wanted to sleep with Michael, astonishing Veronica and Norman, and prompting Veronica to ask her privately if she slept with men at her apartment in the city while Essence was at home. “Of course not,” Valerie had said, but Veronica remained unconvinced.
She thought about asking her niece directly but decided against it. A question like that about what went on at home would put Essence on the spot, and she also felt it crossed the line. Valerie would be furious if she found out. Instead she'd asked Valerie, “Then why do you feel it's okay to sleep with a man in
my
house when Essence is here?”
my
house when Essence is here?”
Valerie's response of, “Because it's not the same thing. Essence doesn't have to know where Michael slept,” struck Veronica as a lame attempt at rationalization.
Norman refused to allow it. “It sets a bad example for Lorinda and Simone. They're both impressionable kids, Vee. Valerie can do what she wants in her own home, but she's not doing it here. Hell, if I haven't had a few too many myself I would have driven their drunk asses to a hotel. I'm trying to be nice here, but I don't know that dude Valerie brought with her, and I don't really like the idea of a strange man sleeping in my house. I also don't want Essence riding with someone who's intoxicated. And just because your sister is sleeping with him doesn't mean she knows a whole lot about him, either. He might be a fucking serial killer, for all I know.”
In the end Valerie and Essence slept in the guest room and Michael bunked on the sofa bed. Valerie sulked about it, and Veronica knew that if Valerie hadn't been her sister Norman wouldn't have held back his temper.
They discussed the situation behind the closed doors of their bedroom. “I'm beginning to wonder about your sister,” Norman said incredulously. “I think she's turning into a slut.”
“Norman!”
“I'm sorry if that offends you, Vee, but there's no nice way to say it. How many fellows has she brought out here in the last couple of months? It can't be good for Essence. Valerie is setting a terrible example for her. I know it can be difficult being a single mother and all, especially since Essence's father isn't in the picture, but Valerie shouldn't be exposing her daughter to all these men.”
“I agree. I'll talk to her in the morning.”
Veronica pulled Valerie aside last Sunday and pointed out that the man she had with her this weekend was about the third guy she'd been involved with in as many months. She suggested as delicately as possible that it probably wasn't a good idea to introduce Essence to every man she went out with. Valerie had been furious, telling Veronica she didn't know anything and that it really wasn't any of her business how she raised her daughter. Veronica knew they'd eventually make up, but she doubted it would happen anytime soon.
Veronica discussed the confrontation with Norman, and his response gave her new hope. “I'm thinking that maybe we should put a lock on the revolving door our families have been coming through. I understand that people like to get out of the city once in a while when the weather's nice, but between Eddie and Michelle, Charles and Germaine, and Valerie and whoever, we're practically being invaded.”
She had quickly agreed with him.
Veronica felt that last weekend's fuss had put a permanent halt to her family and in-laws' constant visits, but that feeling of being safely cocooned far away from their families in New York ended abruptly with Norman's next words.
“Uh . . . Actually, Lucy was hoping she could have the party here.”
She looked at him in disbelief.
“Here?”
“Here?”
“Yeah. She wanted to do a barbecue. You know, during the daytime.”
Veronica decided that the spot on the floor could wait; this was more important. She got up, leaned against the kitchen counter, and said, “I don't like the idea, Norman. We just talked last weekend about stopping our open-door policy.”
“Yeah, but Lucy hasn't taken advantage of us the way my brothers and Valerie have.”
She couldn't argue with that. Lucy hadn't been out to Mount Pocono since their celebration when they changed jobs last fall. “That's true, but think about it, Norman. We don't know Lucy's friends. Doesn't the idea of having a lot of strangers roaming around our house make you uncomfortable? It's like having that guy Michael times fifty.”
“No, it isn't. None of them will be sleeping under our roof. They don't even have to go inside the house unless they need to use the bathroom. It should be all right. We'll lock the bedroom doors.”
She chuckled. “Remember when we had that New Year's party in the city and Duane didn't want to take off his leather jacket because he was afraid somebody would steal it?”
“Oh, I remember. We had everyone just throw their coats on our bed. But he said, âIt's my only coat.'” Norman laughed at the memory.
“And I hung Duane's coat in the back of my closet, behind those drapes my mother gave us. But it was kind of sad, when you think about it. You shouldn't have to worry about somebody walking off with your coat when you're a guest in their home.”
“That was the source of the problem,” Norman pointed out. “Friends of ours brought friends of theirs, and we didn't even know half the people there. Duane didn't give his coat a second thought when he came to the party we had last fall, or again on New Year's. And I'm pretty sure he still has just one coat.” He laughed.
Veronica didn't even smile. “That friends-of-friends scenario is what I'm afraid of if we let Lucy have her party here, Norman. Everybody likes the idea of getting out of the hot, sticky city in July. We might end up with seventy or eighty people here. And what'll we do with them all if it rains?”
“We'll move the party to the basement. I understand your apprehension, Vee, but I'd really like to do this for Lucy. All she's asking is to use our grounds.”
She felt trapped, knowing she had no way to refuse without sounding bitchy. Norman had always been close to his only sister. As the two youngest children in the family, they'd been allies growing up. Lucy even had a scar on her knee from a childhood fight she'd gotten into in defense of her little brother, who at the time was small for his age.
Norman, sensing her reluctance, tried to reassure her. “We'll set some ground rules, the first being that she'll have to limit the number of guests to, say, forty.”
“I can live with that. And the forty-first person who tries to get in will be thrown out on their ear.” She giggled.
Norman reached for a pad and paper and began writing. “Forty-guest limit. Let's see, what else?”
“Let's tell her what time the party will end,” Veronica prompted. “I don't want people thinking they can hang out here until all hours. The neighbors will have a fit if we're playing music late, and we want Lorinda and Simone to get to sleep.”
“Since it's a barbecue, it'll be held during the day, anyway.”
“So they can leave by nine. That's plenty of time, don't you think?”
Norman nodded. “They probably won't even stick around that long, if they've been out here all day.”
She grew quiet as she thought some more. “I assume Lucy is providing the food?”
“Of course.”
“Humph. She'd better have plenty. She'll have to provide both lunch and dinner.”
“Don't worry about that, Vee. It's not our problem.”
She wished he felt as apprehensive as she did about hosting this party, but she didn't want to be a killjoy, especially where Lucy was concerned. She could still see them comforting each other at their mother's funeral six years ago. She wanted Norman to preserve his close relationship with his sister.
She sighed. “I guess, but I want you to make it understood that the only thing we're supplying is the yard and the grill.”
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